life experiences & findings

My journey as a "student of life" and an artist, with room for the
playful or downright silly, in my world, locally or globally.

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Even On Grey Days

Even on grey days...and there are a few of those that happen on the West Coast...there is often beauty to be found...in the inter-play between clouds andmountains. This morning has been one of a constantly shifting "inversion" acrossthe mountains. The internet dictionary defines an "inversion" happening..."whenthe layer of air near the earth is cooler than an overlying layer". The way youreyes see an inversion...is centrally in the shape of a long horizontal cloud...across the mountains...with the mountain tops often showing...above the cloud...and the mountain bottom...below the cloud. The inversion I've been witnessing today...had fingers of cloud...coming out of the central cloud...as it shifted constantly. Today's picture...is from one of my front windows...reminding me...that even on grey days...there is something beautiful happening...in the world outside my window...............Quester.

Monday, February 27, 2006

Slouching Towards Bethlehem

I've been saying in previous posts...that these days I see pictures everywhere.I've found the leafless branches of trees at this time of the year...to be oneof the subjects I keep returning to. There is some urgency in my returns...asthe window of opportunity to catch the most interesting patterns that can befound there...is fast closing...as leafing time is showing signs of starting.Actually...I've been paying particular attention to the fig trees in myneighbourhood...that seem to be a must for the gardens of certain immigrant people...in this area. The fig tree...with its branches bare...is a pattern makerpar excellence...given the way its branches curve across themselves...or shootoff newer branches at interesting angles...sometimes making celtic lookingpatterns. I've even seen faces emerging out of the scars on the fig tree's branches. Today's fig branch picture...because of what it suggests to me...I'msimply going to call..."Slouching towards Bethlehem"..............Quester.

Sunday, February 26, 2006

Pictures Of Another Time 3

[Verse from song: Pictures of Another Timec2000-SOCAN]"The pictures pile upon each other...leaves blown by the storm...but through the winds of autumn time...they will not keep you warm...And so you watch this play...you were a stumbling actor in...and reach for something of the light...to take you through the night..."...........Quester.

Saturday, February 25, 2006

A Very Vancouver Scene

A week ago...I decided to attempt for the first time...taking pictures througha bus window. Most of them didn't come out...perhaps...something to do withthe way the flash bounced off the bus window glass...as I attempted to takepictures on a diagonal line to the subject...causing flash marks on the pictures.For some reason...this one came out...I think as I took it...I was on a straight line to the subjects. I'm glad I got this one...as I'd love to take more pictures of my fellow human beings...but not when they're posing for the camera...in my Pentaxdays...it was with my telephoto lens that I got my best "people pictures". Thescene here...is at the corner of Granville and Georgia...in downtown Vancouver...ona cool overcast day in mid-February...and these two are playing chess on the sidewalk...how very "Vancouver" that is...and I'm glad I got a picture of it..................Quester.

Friday, February 24, 2006

Unsolicited Advice

Some years ago...I found myself inundated with advice I hadn't asked for...andin my frustration with this...drew the sign shown on this page...framed it andput it up in my home. People often forget that people are not asking for their advice...because they don't feel in need of it...so...when it is given anyway...therecipient feels intruded upon. My own feeling about it...isthat this kind of advice is indeed cheap...and I often say..."you want advice from me?...I have a room full of it given to me that's never been used...and I'd love topass it on to you". A sign...at least in your home...with the "zipped lips" logo...and a message about not wanting unsolicited advice...may be just the ticket...whenthe sensitivity of others around you fails...and you need to remind them theiradvice is not needed...without even having to tell them so..........Quester.

Thursday, February 23, 2006

I salute

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Pictures Of Another Time 2

Some time ago I posted an audio blog called "Singing in Schools"...which said afair bit about singing for children. In the eighties and nineties I did a lotof that...singing in elementary schools all over British Columbia. The top picture...is from singing on the Mount Currie Reserve...the bottom one is from singingin a school at Alert Bay...Northern Vancouver Island. I can even tell from thekid's gestures and the look on their faces...which song we are singing. It's asong called "Monkey See"...I can even tell which phrase of the song we're on...it's the one that says "You're feelin' like a winner". I notice that one child atthe back...is still on the phrase directly preceeding that...which is..."Show mewith your finger". I quickly learnt in the early days singing in schools...thatchildren just love to participate in what is being done...and I don't mean just singing on choruses...but "getting physical"...with gestures...movement...etc. I always enjoyed it especially...when they came really alive...as we did a participation song. Fond memories...............Quester.

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

The Shadow And The Tree

Looks like "The Shadow"...is haranguing a tree that he thinks...won't answer back.Come to think of it...that wouldn't be a bad idea...letting steam off...at a muteentity. This is where cats and dogs...and the occasional docile human being...may come in handy...offering no verbal response to the tirade-miester...for either some built in reason...or...simply having learnt to be "Buddah-esque"...in the face of those who have not learnt to rise above their emotions. Before Istarted writing songs myself...I used to sing a song called "I talk to the trees"...which was a courageous notion...before this "New Age" we're in...where there arelikely workshops available...about how to do this in the most effective way. I...myself ...haven't graduated to talking to the trees...yet. The closest I've come to that...is offering words of encouragement to my geranium plant...when it looks to be on the verge of departing this world. The fact that it's still hanging around after four years or more...attests to the efficacy of this approach...so maybe one day I'll actually try out a monologue on a tree. Anyway...in this picture...the tree has had the last laugh...turning the haranguer...into a silly antlered thing........Quester.

Monday, February 20, 2006

Couch View

I'm a lucky man...to be able to sit on my couch...and see this. Io the north ofVancouver...there are mountains stretching wide. When I first came to live here...having a home from which I could see the mountains...was just a distant dream. In thefirst place or two I lived in...I was either facing away from them...or being offeredthe tiniest of tantalizing slices of them. Nine years ago...I was looking at anapartment facing away from the mountains...when the person in charge showing mearound said to me..."I hear you are a painter...by the way...there is another oneavailable now... facing the mountains". I managed to contain my excitement...as I immediately asked to be shown that one...and was blown away from the first moment I entered the front door...and I found myself looking at an almost 180 degree view of the mountains!...as they say the rest is history. Today's view is only the couch view...there will be others posted later...but to sit...playing my guitar...and looking at the mountains as I sit on my couch...is something that I had never thought would come to pass...and I am forever thankful to the good woman...who "by the wayed me"...to this vantage point. By the way...I may be a maker of pictures...but I conveniently forgot to tell her...that I never paint mountains...at least not in the way she was thinking I did.................Quester.

Sunday, February 19, 2006

Flowering Tree...Tall As A House

The other day I posted a picture of crocusses...one of the lowest lying flowers ofspring. That...however...is not the only region where bloomings can be seen...at thistime of the year...here. Vancouver...is the place...among its many other charms...where I've seen more tall flowering trees...than anywhere else in the world I've lived...or travelled through. I remember...in my first spring out here...seeing such atree...and thinking it was an over sized rose bush. On reflection...and after askingquestions...I discovered that I was looking at a camelia tree. When...each year...inJanuary...I start looking out for signs of spring coming in...I go to places where Iknow the camelia grows...to see if it has bloomed yet. The camelia...along with somecherry trees...is the first tall flowering tree of spring. This picture is of one Idiscovered in my neighbourhood...at the beginning of February...that was "as tall as ahouse".................Quester.

Saturday, February 18, 2006

The Lightening Rabbit Spell

This image is a detail from a painting of mine called..."The Lightening Rabbit Spell"...referring to the ancient dance that goes on between Woman and Man. "He" has been left out of this detail. I remember how the "rabbit" appeared in the picture...after "She" and "He" were almost finished being painted. I noticed that between them was this shape that could be added to...to make a "Rabbit"...with "power"...hence the lightening symbols. Well...it seems the rabbit's power has grown with time...so much so...that he's pushed the other "Him"...out of the picture. Has a familiar ring to it...doesn't it.........?............Quester.

Friday, February 17, 2006

Eyes To See

Once wrote a children's song called "Ears to Hear...Eyes to See". I've been reminded ofit recently. Before my recent camera acquisition...my artist's ears and eyes wereworking fairly well. Post camera...I have noticed a quantum leap in the working ofmy eyes...as now...I see pictures everywhere...that I wasn't seeing before. As I walkalong the spring enlivened streets...or shore...or...anywhere now...I am open toreceiving at least some of the myriad pictures...that are available around me. I oncesaid..."he who walks with his head down...finds spare change on the side walk"...well...the other day as I looked low...to see if there were any pictures lurking in that region...I noticed...right at my feet...this piece of stone work...thekind a stone mason would do...and welcoming my shadow into the picture...rather thantrying to exclude it...I took this picture. I'm glad I did...........Quester.

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Evidence Spring Has Come

It occurred to me last night that I had not celebrated yet...with pictures on my blog...the unfolding of early spring on the West Coast...as I spot new signs ...with each new day...that my favourite season is very much...here. This last weekI've seen the first crocusses bursting out of the ground. I've always appreciated it...as I come upon scenes...with them...as if they were being held up...by some invisible hand under the ground...and were being presented to all...who paused for a moment toreceive them...as they went by...as gifts of vibrant coloured boquets ...out of the green green grass. Of course...they appear...in the first of the two pictures. Thesecond picture...I'm going to call "witch hazel and palm"...might even write a song or poem with that title...it has a certain resonance to it. Witch hazel...is one ofthe first bushes to bloom by late January...that's when I first spotted the flowersin this picture. It's one of several bushes or trees out here...where the flowersappear long before the leaves do. Perhaps it is its "twirly" petals...that have acertain energy about them...that caused this flower to get its name. A lot of peoplefrom elsewhere...are surprised to find certain species of palm growing in Vancouver...not ubiquitously...but scattered clusters...here and there. Being someoneoriginally from "palm country"...the palms here have been one of several things thathave comforted me...through the often grey winter days. I can't promise that I won'treturn to singing the praises of spring...on the West Coast...but that's all...for now...................Quester.

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Pictures Of Another Time 1

It could be said that our lives become...in the present...a series of pictures from thepast. Some...we keep in our dusty albums...some...we keep in our computers...and some...we simply keep in our minds. One of my songs says..."Pictures of another time andplace...the memory of a fading face...going where the short days go...". The moment aphotograph is taken...it is relegated "to another time"..."the past"...our picturesare never of the "future"...they inevitably take us to the past...very recent...orvery long ago. Now that I've finally climbed the Mount Everest of posting pictures tomy blog...I hope to post some pictures...under the title..."Pictures of Another Timeand Place". I don't anticipate posting these in dogged chronological sequence...giventhat that particular prison can stop you in your tracks. Instead...I hope to flitacross time...backwards and forwards...and maybe...even sideways. Today's picturehappens to be the earliest picture I have of myself...given on the river I grew up onalong with no electricity...or televisions...etc...cameras also were seldom seen...the occasional picture taken...was usually by a priest...or visitor. Particulars: I'm about ten years old...I am in my trusty "felt hat"...orange and black t-shirt...sentto me by a pen pal in Carey...Ohio...I am proudly displaying one of two cricket bats...my school..."Martindale R.C."...had been given...and I had been appointedcustodian of...I am standing on the "dam" in front of our thatched roofed school...behind me...is the cafe au lait coloured...Pomeroon River...forever enshrined in my mind...along which...we paddled in a boat with its gunwales only slightly above thewater...to get to school. I cannot recall who took this picture...but I am thankfulto them for doing so...giving me the one central picture of my early-ish childhood...................Quester.

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Poem: Let All The Busy Buying Be

The afternoon sun...highlights the splashes of red...in the florist's window...hitting me in the eye...and making me ask why...Of course...how silly of me...Valentine's Dayis only three weeks away...!This time round...I'll just wish the floristand the rest...happy selling days...until the big day comes...and keep the loveI carry in my heart...quietly flowing...out to the ones it's meant for...and let all the busy buying be............................Quester.

Monday, February 13, 2006

First Painting Posted

Pictures Of Shadows

When I see a picture I want to take...my "focus" becomes so one pointed...that it's likely to get me in trouble. The other dayrushing to my window...to take a picture of the sun high lighting the snow on the mountain tops...before it vanished...I brushed against a television set...vcr...and cassette player...in one of my clumps of machines...and sent them crashing down. I've been stepping on to people's lawns...pointing my camera at trees in front of windows. The other day I returned to a side walk spot in front of a school...where I hoped to get a shot of a flowering cherry tree branch...and interesting figures drawn on the school wall. As I rounded the corner...to the prospective scene of the picture...fortunately my survival instincts were to the fore. I had not realized that it was the time of the end of the school day...and there were mothers at the fence...waiting for their young children. I high tailed it out of there at record speed...seeing the waiting trap of an unshaven fellow with a camera at a school yard when the kids were coming out...with the waiting mothers jumping to the wrong conclusion!.Today...I ran the gauntlet once more. On my walk across to my bank...I kept stopping to take shots of interesting shadows on people's front lawns...when I noticed a police cruiser circling around the block. I kept on taking such pictures as Imoved along...and wondered if the cop car would stop and I would be questioned...as a prospective break and enter specialist ...casing the joints...for some night time burglaries! I am glad the car didn't stop...I don't think it would have gone over well...if I'd explained..."I was only taking pictures of shadows!".........................Quester.

Sunday, February 12, 2006

Poem: Rise From Your Trance

When...even the turtle...is calling...rise from your trance...and receive the song...sung everywhere around you...Wake up to the greeningof the dappled dreamland...circling you...Open your eyes...and ears and heart...and receive the drumming...of the long rested Earth...Who are you...late riser...to resist the Life Force rising?...Brother Butterfly and Sister Snake...have long known...the time for sleeping...is over..........................Quester.

Saturday, February 11, 2006

A Tool...Not A Toy

A few people have referred to my digital camera...as "your new toy". I'm not so sure about that description. The last severalyears...the pieces of equipment I acquire...are usually artist's tools...and not in my eyes...toys...given the frivolousness thattends to be associated with the word "toy". I was telling someone the other day about the fantastic tools available in ourworld these days...to create with...the only problem is...that they seem to be bought...from a consumer's stand point...withtheir creative potential ignored. I am sure that i'm going to take my share of Christmas...Thanksgiving...and other gatheringor travel pictures. They have their place in our lives...as a record of our central human experiences. For me...people...including myself...trying to force a smile for the camera...seldom make good representations of us human beings...in theinteresting way someone in a picture taken when they weren't posing...may look. So...I look forward to using my new creative tool...with a deep appreciation of the magical creative possibilities it offers...and hope that a few of my pictures...will say something about how I see the world...and about the pieces of beauty everywhere around us...always available...if we have eyes to see them...............Quester.

Friday, February 10, 2006

Clouds...Mountains...and Metaphors

After record rainfall in 2006...and reason to wonder if the sun had retired from lighting up the Earth...it's been back for thelast two days. The result has been hardly a hint of a cloud over the mountains I see every day from my front windows.Looking at vast regions of blue above the mountains...I had a realization about clouds. Perhaps it's been looking through my camera's view finder much lately...but as happy as I was about the beautiful days...I found myself missing the cloudsusually swirling around the mountain tops...which have been adding an interesting element to my mountain pictures. Ibegan to feel not as motivated to take pictures of them...without their usual companions present. Being a man always onthe look out for metaphors...I've been wondering if the "mountains/clouds" metaphor could be applied to life itself. i.e.if in life...clouds...and overcoming them...or working around them...help to make life interesting...in a way it might not be...if we always had..."nothing but blue skies". This metaphor...is not fully fledged in my mind...it's a work in progress. In thedays ahead...we'll see if it holds up nicely...as I keep up my long walks in the sun..............Quester.

Thursday, February 09, 2006

Soldiers Of The Wind And Rain 2

[From song & cd "Soldiers of the Wind and Rain"c 2005-SOCAN]

"And all of us...we travel on...with wounded hearts that won't confess...to what befell us on the road...that promised love and tenderness...and all of us are soldiers...of the wind and snow and storm...who manage to hold on...between out little victories..."................................Quester.

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Masks

"Each one of us...is a shining star...under the masks we wear...for everyone to see...forgetting...the cruel world we see...is made of masks we wear...for everyone to see...".....................Quester.

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

A Clicking Alchemist

Monday, February 06, 2006

Soldiers Of The Wind And Rain

{Verse of song: "Soldiers of the Wind and Rain"c 2004-SOCAN]

"We are each a riddle on this road...of sameness and differences...with a common ground that stretches out...to the deepest stars...But each one a cosmic finger print...unlike any other known...and here's where we stand alone...but joined on to a necklace made of flames........"....................Quester.

Sunday, February 05, 2006

Better Than Video Games

I've been so involved all day in different aspects of picture making...I almost forgot to do my post for the day. It's been avery productive day with many new pictures taken. What is happening...is I am now on the look out for items that wouldmake good pictures. When I didn't have a camera...that was not a priority. Once looking for pictures becomes a naturalpart of your day...you never know when another subject will present itself. The first thing to do so earlier today was theflorist shop across the way...bathed in sunlight...and not rain...for a change. It lit up the flowers in the florist's windows...andalso an over sized silky red heart. Branches of a tree right in front of one of my windows...made an interesting juxtapositionwith the giant Valentine's Day symbol...and I couldn't let that pass...interupting my breakfast...to do so. This evening Ichecked out some additional options available on the photo software in my computer...and made some interestingdiscoveries...that lead to a long session trying out some effects on some pictures...that I found pleasing. So...its been afine day...given the sun showed its face today...and I've been absolutely absorbed in my work and play with images. Forme it beats video games...or...going to the movies...............Quester.

Saturday, February 04, 2006

The Sun Will Return

Today was another grey and wet day...so it wasn't one for taking pictures outdoors. Instead...I started indoors into the long postponed taking of pictures of my paintings and drawings. The pictures I took...kept having slanted sides and simply notbeing the desired straight on rectangular pictures...there's obviously something I yet have to learn...about taking "straight on" pictures of paintings...talk about today's pictures presenting a large job for the "cropper" to get into. It's amazing thoughhow being able to trim off slanted sides...made most of the cropped pictures look presentable...there are a few ...however...I'll simply have to do over...some having slanted lines left inside of the cropped picture...and of course justabout all...had parts of the original painting or drawing...trimmed away. Still...even here...the results of today's croppings...were good to look upon. Overall there were some learnings in what was done today...and my "picture" momentum...was kept going...with new pictures added to my collection. Still so much to learn...but it's all been such anenlivening journey...and I look forward to the rest of it...and they are saying...the sun will return tomorrow...............Quester.

Friday, February 03, 2006

How You Slice It Matters

Today is the one week anniversary of my acquiring a digital camera...but it seems much longer than that...given the "tricks"I've learnt on it...and the usage I've gotten out of it. Seventy eight pictures later...my favourite aspect of utilising the pictures taken by it...is "cropping" them. Squinting through a tiny view finder...as you take your picture...it's hard to spot any disharmonies lurking on the edges of each picture...or anywhere else. It is when you transfer them to your computer...and click them into computer screen size...you can really see for the first time...whether there's a jewel lurking in the raw material you've taken. This is the stage...when cropping...with my "painter's eye" to the fore...I can spot where the extraneous stuff lies...around any of the four edges of the picture...and start into my slicing it away. I've been blown away...more than once already...by the "jewels" that have been set free...from nondescript pictures...revealing a unity and power that was not visible...pre-cropping. So...even in these early days...I am finding out that "how you slice it"...is where the action is................Quester.

Thursday, February 02, 2006

Creativity Rules 3

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

A Fulfilling Day

Today...was one more grey...wet...day...but it has been an enjoyable day. Last night...with the help of a friend...I was ableto get the 40 plus pictures I'd taken two days ago...from my camera and into my computer. Since then...I've done severalsessions working on them...mainly cropping. I never cease to be amazed how a good cropping can turn a nondescript picture into a jewel...and some of my first pictures certainly needed the help. Today...also...for the first time ever...I emailedpictures to friends...not in the usual way as email attachments...but in another way...and had a confirmation that one ofthe springy pictures I sent had been received...one more magical thing that has come my way since I entered the digitalage...not very long ago. Tonight I tried out some more things...that worked well...so...for me it's been a very fulfilling day...and I am thankful for that. Quester.